Israel allows import of construction finishing materials into Gaza after 3 months freeze

Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Minister of Housing and Public Works, Mufeed aL-Hasaynah, declared Thursday that Israel officially granted the PNA initial approval to import construction finishing material into the besieged Gaza Strip, after three months freeze.

Al-Hasaynah said in an emailed press statement that this would help finishing newly constructed housing units as part of the Gaza reconstruction plan, and clarified that the ministry is going to audit new orders to acquire new material for the reconstruction projects.

Tariq Labad, spokesman for the Hamas-run Ministry of National Economy, told Xinhua that there are 30,000 applicants awaiting the finishing material.

Labad said that around 1,500 applications were approved by Israeli authorities since last May before it was frozen, which lead to disrupting the construction of residential units, and negatively affected employment opportunities and contributed to the deterioration of Gaza's economy.

Israel allowed the import of construction materials, limited to finishing projects outside the national reconstruction plan, in the aftermath of the last Israeli offensive in the summer of 2014.

Finishing material is imported into Gaza through three channels, under the supervision of the United Nations (UN), construction projects for the reconstruction plan and international projects.

Last December, the Hamas-run Ministry of National Economy informed the United Nations supervising team that Israel froze importing construction materials for security reasons.

Finishing materials are usually designed for interior or exterior finishing, and a traditional finishing material is natural stone, which is durable and has an attractive appearance.

The Israeli army waged a large scale military offensive on the Gaza Strip from in the summer of 2014, killing about 2,200 Palestinians and leaving large destruction in housing, infrastructure, agriculture and industry. Endit